Shared heartbeat service for managed devices

• US 8,756,311 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2011
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OpenPeak LLC (Ni, Wang & Massand, PLLC)
• Original Assignee: OpenPeak Inc.
• Inventors: Dare, Robert M., Brown, John R., Krzyzanowski, Paul, Kelly, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Cho, Un C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rahman, M Mostazir
• Application Number:
  US13/116,834
• Publication Number:
  US 20110296011A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,118 Days
• Field of Search: 709/1, 709/202, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for facilitating communication between remote services and applications installed on a device are described. In accordance with embodiments, each of a plurality of remote services generates an application-specific message intended for processing by a corresponding application installed on a device and transmits the application-specific message to a device management system (DMS) server, where it is queued. A DMS client installed on the device sends heartbeat messages to the DMS server indicating that the device is available to receive messages. In response to receiving the heartbeat messages, the DMS server transmits the application-specific messages to the DMS client. The DMS client then publishes each application-specific message to the particular application that the application-specific message was intended for.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating communication between remote services and applications installed on a device, comprising:

receiving shared heartbeat messages sent from a device management system (DMS) client executing on the device to a DMS server, the shared heartbeat messages indicating that the DMS client is available to receive messages;

transmitting a plurality of application-specific messages from the DMS server to the DMS client in response to receiving the shared heartbeat messages, each application-specific message being generated by a corresponding remote service for processing by a corresponding application installed on the device receiving the application-specific messages from the corresponding remote services at the DMS server; and

storing the application-specific messages in a queue at the DMS server prior to transmission to the DMS client;

wherein inter-application communication between the applications installed on the device is arranged by a message subscriber interface of the device such that the applications are able to share information with each other;

wherein as part of the arrangement of the inter-application communication arranged by the message subscriber interface, a first application of the installed applications sends a message to the message subscriber interface to subscribe to events occurring with respect to a second application of the installed applications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the application-specific messages from the corresponding remote services at the DMS server comprises:

receiving the application-specific messages from the remote services via a message publication application programming interface (API) of the DMS server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring by the DMS server a time-to-live value associated with a particular application-specific message stored in the queue; and

removing by the DMS server the particular application-specific message from the queue if the time-to-live value associated therewith has expired.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the plurality of application-specific messages from the DMS server to the DMS client comprises:

transmitting, in association with each application-specific message, an identification of an application-specific channel to which the application-specific message is to be published upon receipt by the DMS client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the shared heartbeat messages and transmitting the plurality of application-specific messages comprises:

receiving the shared heartbeat messages and transmitting the plurality of application-specific messages over a common transport channel established between the DMS client and the DMS server.

6. A method for facilitating communication between remote services and applications installed on a device, comprising:

sending shared heartbeat messages from a device management system (DMS) client executing on the device to a DMS server, the shared heartbeat messages indicating that the DMS client is available to receive messages; and

receiving by the DMS client a plurality of application-specific messages that were transmitted by the DMS server in response to receiving the shared heartbeat messages, each application-specific message being generated by a corresponding remote service for processing by a corresponding application installed on the device;

wherein the applications installed on the device are able to share information with each other by inter-application communication arranged by a message subscriber interface of the device;

wherein as part of the inter-application communication, sending a message from a first application of the installed applications to the message subscriber interface for subscribing the first application to events occurring with respect to a second application of the installed applications.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

publishing the application-specific messages by the DMS client to corresponding applications installed on the device via the message subscriber interface.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

registering the corresponding applications by the DMS client as subscribers to which application-specific messages may be published in response to receiving subscription requests from the corresponding applications via the message subscriber interface of the device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein registering the corresponding applications comprises establishing an application-specific channel in association with each of the corresponding applications;

and

wherein publishing the application-specific messages to the corresponding applications comprises publishing each of the application-specific messages to a corresponding application-specific channel.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein sending the shared heartbeat message and receiving the plurality of application-specific messages comprises:

sending the shared heartbeat message and receiving the plurality of application-specific messages via a common transport channel established between the DMS client and the DMS server.

11. A device management services (DMS) server, comprising:

a message publisher interface that receives a plurality of application-specific messages, each of the application-specific messages being generated by a corresponding remote service for processing by a corresponding application installed on a device;

DMS server logic that receives shared heartbeat messages sent from a DMS client executing on the device and that transmits the plurality of application-specific messages to the DMS client in response to the receipt of the shared heartbeat messages; and

a queue;

wherein the DMS server logic stores the plurality of application-specific messages in the queue prior to transmission to the DMS client;

wherein the message publisher interface communicates with a message subscriber interface of the device and the message subscriber interface enables inter-application communication such that a plurality of applications installed on a device supported by the DMS server are able to share information with each other;

wherein as part of inter-application communication, a first application of the device sends a message to the message subscriber interface of the device to subscribe to events occurring with respect to a second application of the device.

12. The DMS server of claim 11, wherein the message publisher interface comprises a remote services application programming interface (API).

13. The DMS server of claim 11, wherein the DMS server logic monitors a time-to-live value associated with a particular application-specific message stored in the queue and removes the particular application-specific message from the queue if the time-to-live value associated therewith has expired.

14. The DMS server of claim 11, wherein the DMS server logic transmits the plurality of application-specific messages to the DMS client by transmitting, in association with each application-specific message, an identification of an application-specific channel to which the application-specific message is to be published upon receipt by the DMS client.

15. The DMS server of claim 11, wherein the DMS server logic receives the shared heartbeat messages from the DMS client and transmits the plurality of application-specific messages to the DMS client over a common transport channel established between the DMS client and the DMS server.

16. A device with applications installed thereon, comprising:

a device management system (DMS) client that sends shared heartbeat messages to a DMS server, the shared heartbeat messages indicating that the DMS client is available to receive messages, and that receives a plurality of application-specific messages that were transmitted by the DMS server in response to receiving the shared heartbeat messages, each application-specific message being generated by a corresponding remote service for processing by a corresponding application installed on the device; and

a message subscriber interface by which the DMS client publishes the application-specific messages to the corresponding applications installed on the device;

wherein the message subscriber interface is configured to arrange inter-application communication such that the applications installed on the device are able to share information with each other;

wherein the message subscriber interface is further configured to receive a message from a first application of the installed applications to subscribe to events occurring with respect to a second application of the installed applications as part of the inter-application communication.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the DMS client registers the corresponding applications as subscribers to which application-specific messages may be published in response to receiving subscription requests from the corresponding applications via the message subscriber interface.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the DMS client registers the corresponding applications by establishing an application-specific channel in association with each of the corresponding applications and publishes the application-specific messages to the corresponding applications by publishing each of the application-specific messages to a corresponding application-specific channel.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the DMS client sends the shared heartbeat messages and receives the plurality of application-specific messages via a common transport channel established between the DMS client and the DMS server.

20. A device management system (DMS) client device, comprising:

a device management system (DMS) client that sends shared heartbeat messages to a DMS server, the shared heartbeat messages indicating that the DMS client is available to receive messages, and that receives at least one application-specific message that was transmitted by the DMS server in response to receiving the shared heartbeat messages, the at least one application-specific message being generated by a corresponding remote service for processing by a corresponding application installed on a device connected to the DMS client device; and

a device messaging adapter that transmits the at least one application-specific message from the DMS client device to the device connected thereto;

wherein the DMS client device includes a message subscriber interface that is configured to arrange inter-application communication such that applications on the device are able to share information with each other;

wherein as part of the inter-application communication, the message subscriber interface is further configured to receive a message from a first application of the device to subscribe to events occurring with respect to a second application of the device.